A busy street in a slum in the north of DelhiHer research shows that most quacks, as well as private doctors, get all their information about antibiotics
from sales representatives and drug companies, rather than independent sources. Companies will host fully
catered conferences for quacks with paid lectures from private doctors on which antibiotics to prescribe,
she said.
She confirmed the practice of offering quacks free samples of antibiotics. They will often then give these to
their poorest patients for free, as a misguided act of charity. The sample packets usually don’t contain a full
course of antibiotics, making them less effective and ensuring patients don’t complete the treatment, which
is known to fuel drug resistance.
“There is a strong push coming from the pharmaceutical industry,” Gautham said. “That push takes the
form of very aggressive promotion of antibiotics, especially in rural markets, because these represent huge
turnovers for those companies that manufacture and market antibiotics.
“Unless we work with the pharmaceutical industry to reduce the aggressive strategies, it’s going to be
difficult to work only with the providers [quacks] and get them to reduce their use.”
Reporting also by Ben Stockton and Rahul Meesaraganda
This article originally appeared on The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s website